Dan Kaufman discusses his book, The Fall of Wisconsin, at Politics and Prose on 7/11/18.

Originally from Wisconsin, Kaufman has covered the state’s dramatic political transformation for years, notably in a 2015 cover story for the New York Times Magazine. For more than a century Wisconsin had been a bastion of progressivism, a cradle of the labor and environmental movements, and home of the Wisconsin Idea, which promoted expertise for the public good. Then in 2010, Republicans, led by Governor Scott Walker, took control of state government, rolling back laws protecting labor rights, the environment, voting rights, and public education. And in 2016, Wisconsin went for Trump. Yet even as the state became a national laboratory for conservatives bent on remaking the country, many of its citizens fought back, and continue to do so. These include Randy Bryce, an ironworker hailed as "the new star of the Democratic party” whose long-shot challenge to Paul Ryan helped galvanize progressives nationwide and drive Ryan into retirement. Bryce, and many others portrayed in Kaufman's searing account, have shown that the state's progressive spirit persists.

This talk features participation from Seymour M. Hersh, multiple-award-winning investigative journalist and author, most recently, of the memoir Reporter.

https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9780393635201